Running Against the Wind
by RainDragon28
Summary: Life on the Edge couldn't be better. Well, perhaps if the Triple Stryke would quit running away to play, and for strange activity going on around the base. Floorboards cracking... objects mysteriously fallen on the floor... Perhaps something's actually going on here. Three-shots.
1. Chapter 1

Astrid walked by the closed arena on Dragon's Edge, Stormfly by her side. Her loyal dragon followed her closely, her eyes fixed on the structure with booms echoing from inside. Astrid was the same way – expecting something to happen at any given moment. The booming inside suddenly seized and so she carried on walking with Stormfly that early and beautiful morning.

Until suddenly, the Triple Stryke shot from the entrance when playing _Beat the Doom_ and beat his wings as fast as he could, flying away to go playing.

''Not again!'' mumbled Astrid under her breath and immediately hopped on Stormfly. ''Let's go!'' She went after the dragon, Stormfly's wings beating madly.

Sleuther, as Tuffnut had named him, went for the forest on the Edge, flying above the ocean of trees upside down with his tongue sticking out.

Stormfly had no trouble following him until he decided to shoot _under_ the treetops, and play try-to-catch-me-if-you-can.

A dead tree lay straight ahead, resting against another living one, creating two ways to pass it. Sleuther shot underneath while Stormfly went over, roaring after the Triple Stryke. The dragon looked backwards and with one blast of his wings, shot upwards, Stormfly hot on his trail.

And then suddenly, he flew right back in there.

Astrid kicked Stormfly's sides to go after him, but she refused to move forward and hovered above Dragon's Edge wilderness. ''No! Come on, Stormfly!''

...

It's after hours of searching that Astrid finally found Sleuther, eating dragon-berries from a bush.

Stormfly landed a distance away from the dragon and her rider slid from her back and approached the Triple Stryke.

''It's okay, boy. It's okay.'' she said calmly every step she took towards him.

Sleuther looked up at her and lowered his head as she wrapped a rope around his neck to bring him back to the base.

''Good boy.'' she said and started walking back towards her Deadly Nadder, only for Sleuther to refuse to go and pull on the rope tied around his neck. ''Whoa! You're fine! Come on.''

Sleuther finally decided to calm down and agreed to follow her back home.

...

Hiccup walked in his hut. It was middle of the afternoon and he still hadn't seen Astrid all day. Sleuther was missing as well - again. It didn't take much time for everyone to figure out she had gone after him.

Hiccup reached up to his loft, and a loud crack was heard. He instantly froze on the spot, his eyes scanning the area suspiciously.

''Hey, guys!'' Astrid's voice suddenly called from outside, immediately breaking him from his thoughts.

He walked out of his hut and on the platforms giving on the lower ground of the Training Arena where Astrid on Stormfly landed with Sleuther behind them.

''Don't tell me.'' said Fishlegs as he approached to grab the Triple Stryke, half laughing.

''Oh, yeah,'' said Astrid, dismounting Stormfly. ''He escaped again. He found a way to somehow squeeze between the cracks of the floor, took off... Took me forever to catch him.''

...

Astrid walked in the Clubhouse later in the day, finding Snotlout alone in there, sitting on a chair with his feet up resting on the table.

''Where's Hiccup?'' she asked the moment the entered.

''His hut, I guess.'' answered Snotlout, his head resting against his crossed arms behind him.

Astrid was about to go when Snotlout suddenly stopped her.

''Hey, Astrid!'' he called, and she immediately turned around to face him. ''What are we gonna do with that dragon?''

Astrid sighed and came closer. ''I have _no idea_ why he runs away. He just _does._ ''

''We bring him to _our_ home with open arms and it's the third time in his many days we had to chase after him.'' he said seriously.

''Actually, only me and Hiccup have been chasing after him.'' said Astrid matter-of-factly. ''And yes, I know, Snotlout.''

''Well, now do something to fix him and his crazy habit. Or ask Hiccup while you're there, he's _really_ good at this stuff...'' said Snotlout.

Astrid only rolled her eyes as she turned around to get Hiccup.

...

Hiccup flew Toothless and Astrid Stormfly with Sleuther following them behind.

''Alright!'' said Hiccup to the Triple Stryke as they came to a stop and hovered above the trees of Dragon's Edge. ''Since you _love_ playing so much, why don't we play a game out here, huh? Maybe that'll get some of your crazy energy out, and you won't have to run away anymore.''

Hiccup nodded to Astrid, and Toothless and Stormfly raced up the mountain until they reached the snowy top, Sleuther following, interested.

''Come on, boy, you can do it!'' called Hiccup to the Triple Stryke right behind them and as soon as they reached the very top, Toothless and Stormfly let themselves fall from the sky. Sleuther followed, doing the same.

Hiccup looked at Astrid upside down, smiled and gave her a thumbs-up. She laughed in response.

When they crossed the clouds, Toothless and Stormfly with Sleuther twisted around and unfolded their wings to let the wind slow their fall. With that speed, they were able to soar without a beat of their wings back to the base for the sun was setting.

''Okay, that was awesome!'' commented Astrid.

...

''Huh... That's weird. I could swear I placed Macey _right_ here...'' said Tuffnut as he scratched his chin thoughtfully, observing the wall of the Clubhouse.

''You sure? I mean you're always losing stuff anyway...'' stated Ruffnut as she leaned against the wall with her arms crossed, watching her brother inspecting the wall seriously.

''No, I'm sure I put it _right here!_ Astrid! Were you jealous of my Macey?!'' he called to Astrid who simply rolled her eyes.

''Tuffnut, I never even know where your mace's at.'' she said, shrugging. ''And I don't care anyway.'' And with that she simply walked away carelessly. Why would she take a _mace_ anyway?

''You know, you could be losing you mind as well or something.'' added Ruffnut, smirking.

...

Astrid walked to Hiccup's hut that same night, waiting for everyone to join up at the Clubhouse. She opened his door to go see Sleuther resting with Toothless on the first floor. It surely had been a day for these guys. They barely lifted their pupils when she came in.

Floorboards from upstairs suddenly cracked and Astrid raised her eyes.

''Hiccup?'' she called after a moment of silence. The two dragons didn't even bother to move, like they hadn't heard a thing.

She climbed up the stairs and found the room dark and empty.

''Astrid?'' she heard Hiccup's voice call from downstairs. ''Astrid, you up here?'' By the time she turned around, he was already in the loft with her.

''Yeah, I,... Just heard a noise, like someone walking across the floor.'' she explained, gesturing at the empty room. ''I thought it was you.''

''Well, Heather made dinner.'' said Hiccup as if these strange noises were completely normal. ''Wanna come?''

Astrid nodded. ''Yeah, sure.'' she said and with Hiccup following, walked down the stairs and out of the building.

...

After dinner, the sky had turned from dark blue to jet black with only a couple visible sparkly stars. Almost all the torches around the base had been put out for almost everyone was going to bed by now.

Astrid walked in her hut, not bothering to light up a candle and immediately crashed in her bed.

Right after making herself comfortable, a loud bang rang across the room, and she immediately lit up a candle to see what had just happened. A couple objects of hers were on the floor, including her favorite axe that had been resting against the wall next to her. Now how had all of this suddenly fallen to the ground..?

Heather was her roommate for now, but it couldn't be some kind of prank from hers since she hadn't came in yet.

Astrid slowly got up from the bed with the candle in hand and inspected the area.

Her door suddenly slammed shut, and she gasped loudly.

''You're jumpy...'' said Heather as she walked in. It was a first to see Astrid like that.

''Yeah, it's been kind of a weird and jumpy night.'' said Astrid, looking down at her objects on the floor.


	2. Chapter 2

The next morning, Astrid was in the Training Arena with Sleuther and Stormfly.

The Triple Stryker looked down at her curiously as she held in her arms a saddle.

''Wanna try something new?'' she asked, and saddled up the dragon.

Sleuther let her do what she had to do and even let her climb on his back. Stormfly squeaked at her rider as to say to be careful while Sleuther raised higher on his hind legs.

''Well, so far so good.'' she said to herself.

She patted his neck gracefully and sucked her teeth for him to go. But instead of doing so, the Triple Stryke bucked her off.

Astrid crashed on the area floor and immediately heard calls from Hiccup.

Stormfly roared at Sleuther angrily and he roared back, but Stormfly won over and he finally stayed low as he understood his mistake.

''Astrid!'' called Hiccup as he collapsed by her side. ''You okay?''

''Yeah, I'm fine.'' she replied as she picked herself up. ''I don't understand. He loved flying, but apparently not so much with someone on his back...''

...

It was late at night and Heather walked in the Clubhouse as everyone went to their own hut, but when she got there, something seemed and felt unusual. And she didn't like that feeling...

She walked deeper in the room and found the large chest wide open, revealing all its items - or almost all of them...

A floorboard suddenly cracked from the other side of the wall and by instinct; Heather took hold of her axe and approached the exit she heard the noise from.

''Hello?'' she called, but there was no reply.

She walked out of the building and a pair of oars that used to rest perfectly still against the outside wall suddenly fell. She gasped in surprised while turning to face the noise. It took her some seconds to understand something was definitely wrong here.

...

''There was someone in the Clubhouse, Hiccup, I know it.'' explained Heather to her leader.

She had called a meeting in the Clubhouse to explain what had happened. To her eyes, everybody had to be aware of this strange situation.

Snotlout yawned loudly, covering her mouth with his hand as he did. ''Did you actually physically see anyone, though?'' he asked, _actually_ doubting ' _the women with whom he has a_ _connection_ _'._

Heather sent him a glare but answered the question anyway. ''Okay, not technically, but the chest was wide open, and right after that I heard someone walking on the platforms outside.'' she said, standing in the room and gesturing to the chest and exit behind her.

''Okay, I'm worried.'' wined Fishlegs, who believes every single word.

''Heather,'' said Hiccup calmly. ''We have looked everywhere and there's no sign of anyone's been on the base, and even if there was, they're long gone by now.''

Heather's eyes met his and she sighed in shame. Perhaps she was simply losing her mind here.

...

The riders went back to their hut to take the couple hours of sleep left after Heather's false alarm.

Hiccup entered his hut and shut the door close behind him. His eyes were used to the darkness by now and he found the stairs and his bed with no problem. He lied in his bed, resting on his back, alone in the room since Toothless slept with Sleuther in the stable at night. The Triple Stryke needed a dragon to trust around here, and that was the Night Fury.

Everything was quiet, and right as he was on the edge of sleep, and loud but squeaky sneeze suddenly echoed, sending him alert. Hiccup didn't dare move for a moment, and then sat of the edge of his bed, grabbed a candle and lit it.

The loft hid nothing, but as came downstairs, he realised Heather had been right for the candlelight showed two revealed feet from a body covered by a blanket. Carefully, Hiccup grabbed the cover and shoved it off the person.

''Hey!'' said Hiccup as what happened to be a young blond girl got to her feet faster than he could have registered. ''What are you doing here?''

As a reply, she punched him in the guts and Hiccup dropped the candle, sending the room in complete darkness.

''Hey! Come here!'' he called after her as she reached for a sword resting against the wall. ''Whoa! Hey, you don't wanna do that, okay?''

With quick movements, Hiccup managed to confuse her, pass the weapon and lock her between him and his arms, preventing her from going anywhere.

''Hold still!'' he ordered her as she kicked wildly to free herself from the grip. It took a couple minutes, and she finally went out of breath and energy.

' _'_ _Who are you?_ '' asked Hiccup, confused. He couldn't recall having seen her anywhere.

...

The little blond girl sat on a chair at the table of Hiccup's hut, the gang on the opposite side.

All the riders had regrouped here to find out who she was; since the Clubhouse had too many exits, making it easy to lose her if he tried to somehow escape.

She had long and wild blond hair with blue eyes - she was short and wore many bracelets, rings, necklaces and was well armed with daggers and knifes hidden in her boots and belt. She was younger than the Dragon Riders, but she was quite agile for her age.

''Maybe we could start with you name.'' said Astrid threateningly, leaning against the table, facing their little thief.

But the little girl only stared back, her eyes digging in hers.

''She's scared, I can tell by the look in her eyes.'' said Heather, her arms crossed over her chest while smiling behind Astrid.

''I'm not scared.'' said the blond girl, looking away.

''Oh, well she _does_ have a voice.'' said Ruffnut, acting – just like the two other girls – mean.

''How about a name now?'' said Astrid, her eyes never leaving the girl's.

She inhaled and relaxed, giving up trying to keep her identity a secret. After all, were these guys going to quit anyway?

''My name is Cami.'' she said, looking up at them with sharp eyes. ''I'm _not_ going back.''

Hiccup took a step forward, and Astrid backed off to let him speak.

''Well you're not going anywhere this time of night, that's for sure.'' he said kindly, compared to Astrid, Heather and Ruffnut.

...

The next morning, Trader Johann arrived to the shores of Dragon's Edge, and was greeted by Hiccup waiting for him at the docks.

''Hey, Johann.'' welcomed Hiccup, waving at the trader as he crossed from his ship to the docks.

''Master Hiccup. Always a pleasure to see you.'' said Trader Johann respectfully to the rider.

''We kind of have a situation here... I thought you might know who she is and where she comes from.'' said Hiccup without mentioning Cami's same since he had sent him a Terror-Mail explaining it all.

''I _do,_ actually know who she is.'' said the Trader, half laughing. ''Her name is Camicazi, she's heir to the Bog-Burglar tribe.''

''Then why is she here..?'' wondered Hiccup, shifting his eyes from Johann to the ground.

''The fact is,'' continued Johann. ''She's a runaway. Where's she now?''

...

Camicazi walked in the stable of Dragon's Edge, approaching one cool-looking dragon in one of the pens. The dragon looked down at her curiously and lowered his head, allowing the soft hand to stroke his snout. She smiled, carrying on like this for a couple minutes until her name was called from outside.

She walked out of the building and found the group's leader and Trader Johann waiting for her on the landing platform.

''Camicazi, I suppose you know Trader Johann.'' said Hiccup, presenting the man by his side. ''He'll be taking you back home.''


	3. Chapter 3

Johann followed behind as Camicazi walked over the platform leading up aboard the ship and saluted the Dragon Riders.

''Johann, thanks.'' said Hiccup, waving goodbye.

It didn't take long and the ship had set sail.

Camicazi rested her head on her arms as she leaned against the ship's frame, looking out at the endless ocean. But as she did so, something caught her eye from the corner coming from the island she just left.

Sleuther flew as fast as his wings could carry him, and grazed the water with the tip of his claws as he approached the vessel at high speed.

Cami smiled, and looked back to see the trader focused on else than her. She turned her head back around and the Triple Stryke landed on the prow of the ship. He lowered his head as the little girl hopped on his back and only at that moment Johann saw the scene.

''Hey, no! Come back here!'' he called out, but as he ran to reach her, Sleuther had already taken off, causing the ship to rock wildly and send Johann to the floor.

...

On Dragon's Edge, Hiccup caught the scene as Camicazi just hopped on Sleuther and took off. He mumbled under his breath furiously and mounted Toothless who had been following him closely.

The instant his metal leg clicked, Toothless shot in the air and after Sleuther and Camicazi.

Being a Night Fury, it didn't take long for Toothless to be flying right beside the Triple Stryke. He roared at him to quit it, but Sleuther only basted his wings and shot forward.

Hiccup furrowed his brows and directed Toothless to Sleuther's side, forcing him to fly back to the island.

''Camicazi, tell him to stop!'' called Hiccup, but she didn't seem to be hearing him and only kept him going.

It didn't take an eternity and they found themselves flying above Dragon's Edge, close to the treetops.

''Camicazi, stop him!'' yelled Hiccup over the whistles of the wind due to the fact they were going pretty fast.

But she wasn't going to give up. Then Hiccup had no other choice.

He arranged Toothless' tail for solo-flight, and when they were just above the Triple Stryke, Hiccup jumped off his dragon and landed on Sleuther's back, causing the dragon to go down since he has never experience this before.

Having a sudden added weight sent him in panic, and was no longer able to beat his wings correctly, sending him crashing to the ground below.

They broke through the treetops and soon enough they were lying on the forest floor. But Camicazi, being light on her feet, was already running away in the forest, with no idea where she was going.

''Hey, come back here!'' called Hiccup, but unfortunately, due to the crash, his prosthetic had twisted and so he couldn't chase after her.

But of course, Camicazi didn't listen and continued running. Only for the moment she turned her head around to see if she was being followed, she bumped into something tall and black with toxic green eyes looking down at her.

Toothless bared his teeth and snarled. Camicazi quickly picked herself off the ground and ran in the other direction, only for a sky-blue Nadder to drop from the air, blocking her way out. And so every time she ran for an exit, her path would be blocked by a dragon and his rider until she was completely surrounded with no way out.

''You can always try to flee,'' said Astrid on top of Stormfly.

''But it won't work.'' finished Heather with Windshear growling low.

''And I'm not going back!'' cried Camicazi. ''You can't make me.''

...

''What if she's playing games?'' proposed Snotlout to the gang in the Clubhouse. ''What if - like said Tuffnut - she's working for Viggo?''

''Guys, she's not faking!'' said Hiccup, trying to speak some sense into them. ''I don't see how we could just send her back.''

''Uh, duh?'' said Tuffnut as if it was obvious. ''We have dragons?''

''Hiccup, she _has_ to go back.'' said Astrid, walking to his side. ''She has her own family.''

''She wanted to get away so bad, she almost killed herself taking off on a dragon.'' explained Hiccup, making aggressive gestures. ''And she doesn't even ride.''

''Hiccup...'' said Astrid, but she knew she wouldn't win at this. Not when she was against him.

...

Camicazi was at the stable once again, brushing Sleuther with a brush she'd been handed over to have her busy.

She heard approaching footsteps and immediately turned around to see here's group's leader walking up to her.

''Okay, here's the deal.'' said Hiccup, brushing his hands together. ''Now if you want, you can stay here for a few days. If that's okay with you.''

Camicazi shifted her eyes from him to Sleuther, nodding quietly.

''And another thing, Camicazi—'' said Hiccup but he was suddenly cut off.

''Call me Cami.'' said Camicazi.

'' _Cami.''_ repeated Hiccup just like she said it. ''No more running away. And no more taking off with stranger dragons.''

''It wasn't even a stranger.'' said Cami quietly, not daring making eye contact with him.

Hiccup turned around and was about to walk out the building until she spoke again.

''Thanks for letting me stay, Master Hiccup.'' she said, and Hiccup turned his head around to see her.

''Call me Hiccup.'' he said, taking the same tone shed had used to say the same thing.

Camicazi grew a smile. '' _Hiccup.''_

* * *

 **Alright, I know this wasn't my best writing. But I just wanted to have Camicazi in one story and so here it is. I know perhaps some of you haven't read the books but don't blame me for spoilers and facts that you don't know who she is. For those of you who know her very well - her personality and stuff - maybe you could leave me comments about her 'cause I might right a sequel.**

 **With that said, boubye!**


End file.
